


Day Zero

by ahatfullofoctarine (orphan_account)



Series: January Fluffabet Drabble Challenge [15]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Cameos, F/M, First Meetings, One-Sided Attraction, Pre-Relationship, Short One Shot, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 12:09:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17549432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ahatfullofoctarine
Summary: Keith has an unorthodox introduction to the Jaegar Program.Pacific Rim AU





	Day Zero

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: "Open" from the A-Z Januart fluffabet challenge

Keith’s never liked hospitals, much less the inside of a doctor’s office. 

The mandatory medical exams to get into the final stage of the Jaegar Program?

Literal.

 _Hell_.

Or a backdoor _into_ Hell—if the preliminary questionnaire he’s been given is anything to go by, anyway.   One of the questions asks if he’s ever had sex with animals. He has no idea what the hell that question has to do with fending off an invading homicidal alien race, and in all honestly he should leg it out the door like the last five recruits if this speaks to the nature of the people he’s going to be working with. The questions that follow aren’t any sort of improvement, nor is Keith allowed the luxury of a gradual descent from bad to worse. After the animal sex it’s as if the rest of the questions—much like Keith the moment he reads them—collectively agree to hurl themselves off the side of an exceptionally steep cliff.

It’s through sheer will of ‘fuck you’ that Keith reaches the end. The size of the feedback box could also stand to be a lot less insultingly _small_. All he wants to do is sprint home and lock all the windows and doors and never look another human being in the eye again.

 _Fuck you, guy behind the counter playing Reaction Bingo. Here’s your pen and clipboard back—but also I would find what you’re doing incredibly fucking funny if it wasn’t so fucked up. You’re goddamn right ‘Jesus Didn’t Die For This.’_ _I swear to God if I see this shit on Reddit I’m gonna hunt you down like the motherfucking Crow —_

“Kogane, Keith.” Announces a clinical voice, from a body that Keith _swears_ wasn’t standing right beside him at the counter a second ago. Clipboard and pen go flying, clattering noisily at Keith’s feet.

 _Fuck,_ Keith thinks, crouching to snatch them up. 

“ _Fuck_.” Keith _says_ , seeing a pair of black leather pumps, gaze unabashedly tracking the _longest_ legs in the world on his way up before he meets the eyes of the owner. _Blue,_ but not in a way that reminds him of water. Blue like the lightning jolting him from the base of his spine when he realizes she’s caught him staring. 

And oh man, does Keith _stare_. 

What, he knows a pretty woman when he sees one—looking’s free. It’s true when they say newspapers do little justice to the real thing. Not that he’s _in love_ _with her_ or anything. Doctor Allura Alverson is just really pretty, is all.

And builds robots.

And the brain-machine interface for said robots.

She’s pretty and she builds robots, and the brain-machine interface for said robots, and is the daughter of the man who created the Jaegar Program.  Not that her pedigree has any influence on her being a pivotal influence in the war against the kaijiu, just that you can't talk about daughter without acknowledging the father--or vice versa. No big deal.

(Big deal. _Huge_   _huge_ deal.)

This is a _completely_ _natural_ reaction Keith’s having.

Love is for _chumps_ , is all he’s saying.

 _Saying_.

God, he should _say_ something, shouldn’t he? Like right now. Like _literally right now_.

“A-Alverson!” Keith blurts.

Like, literally _anything_ other than whatever the fuck that was.

 _Masterful_.

The ensuing silence grows; 'p _retty’_ being all Keith's mind can scrape up off the floor. Behind Alverson’s back the guy behind the counter holds up his clipboard and flips over the paper to reveal a second Reaction Bingo that pertains to meeting Doctor Alverson in person. There’s only one category, ‘Error 404: Site Not Found’, and goddamn it Keith doesn’t know if he wants to laugh, punch the guy in the face, or shake his hand.  Maybe he’ll do all three when this is all over. 

“He’s all yours, ‘Lu,” the guy behind the counter drawls. He disappears behind the large set of double doors beyond the reception area, whistling 'Girl from Ipanema' as he goes. 

“Uh—” Keith starts. 

“ _Allura_ ,” the doctor corrects with a laugh. “We can skip the 'doctor' bit because I’m not a 'real' one.” She says, using air-quotes to emphasize it. “I’m just filling in for a friend tonight, what with the triple event in Olkarion.”

Keith continues to stare dumbly up at her.

Allura smiles back. “You know, there’s no need to prostrate yourself; I’m not _royalty_ or anything. Here.”

She reaches and pulls him up.  Takes the pen and clipboard from him.

Keith’s throat runs dry as she peruses the thing, reaching the last page, the colourful feedback he’s addressed to the entire Jaegar Program.

Allura’s eyes narrow.

“Um—” Keith clears his throat, ears heating up.

Allura snorts and busts out laughing for a good two minutes before she dabs the corners of her eyes with her pinky. 

“ _’Amoral reprobates’_.” She snickers, hitting him lightly with the clipboard. “Not the words one would expect out of the guy with one-word answers. I quite like it.  You're not inarticulate; you're just not used to being around women. Right?”

Keith shrugs, acutely aware of the fact that his ears are on fire at this point. “I surprise myself sometimes.”

“Always a nice feeling, isn't it?" Allura removes Keith’s questionnaire from the clipboard, goes over to the destruction bin, and slides it through the slit. 

Truth be told, Keith’s glad to see that paper go.

_Even so..._

“Uh. Don’t you need that?”

“Need it?” Allura tilts her head at him, one eyebrow raised. “Why would I need it?”

“For your…I don’t know… _jaegar_ _research_ and stuff?”

Allura beams. It's the cutest thing Keith's ever seen. He tries not to fixate. God, her skin looks so _soft_. What is that, pomegranate? She smells so _good._

Crap _._

“Aww that’s so sweet of you to think so—but _no_ , definitely not.  I mean, we will run a few tests to judge your cognitive skills, but other than that there’s no preliminary questionnaire for prospective jaegar pilots.  What you'll soon discover is that things get quite  _tense_ around here, so Matt likes to take the edge off?” Allura adds with a sheepish laugh.

“You’re telling me…” Keith says, hands curling into fists, face beet-red “that that… _asshole_ that was here five minutes ago, isn’t actually—”

“Oh, no, he’s _very_ legit," Allura corrects. "He’s from K-Science.  They're a bit...on the eccentric side, but otherwise harmless. He must have thought you’d be one of his. Can’t really blame him; not a lot of people big on sifting through kaijiu entrails, unfortunately.  But admit it, you’re a lot less nervous for enlisting, aren’t you?”

Well, he’s definitely too fired up and pissed off to be. “How big is this place?” Keith asks, trying to keep his tone casual. 

“Not so big that you won’t be falling victim to the infamous Doctor Holt's pranks in the immediate future,” Allura answers with a giggle. She gestures to the large double doors that the asshole vanished behind. “Ready to meet the others?"


End file.
